India has risen to the 15th position in 4G availability in the world, but the average download speed of 5.1 MPs is less than one-third of the global average.

4G speed in India among the slowest in the world (Source: PTI)

New Delhi :

While India is finally ranked among the top in terms of availability of 4G LTE connectivity on mobile networks, it’s ranking is low when it comes to speed. According to a new report by OpenSignal, India’s spike in 4G availability ranking can be credited to launch of Reliance Jio in 2016.

A study by OpenSignal ‘The State of LTE’ gives us a peek into how LTE availability and speeds have grown across the world. Meanwhile, some interesting statistics have been revealed as far as India is concerned. India has risen to the 15th position in 4G availability in the world, but the average download speed of 5.1 MPs is less than one-third of the global average and just a little higher than the average global 3G speed of 4.4 Mbps.

The OpenSignal report, with reference to Reliance Jio, observes that in India’s case it is a “rare instance in which a single operator can have an outsized impact on a mobile market in just a short time.” Meanwhile, download speeds in the country have decreased over one megabit per second in the last six months as traffic has increased hugely. India, which is at the 74th position among 75 countries, ranks below countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The report said, “While signals may be plentiful in India, capacity isn’t. India has some of the slowest LTE speeds in the world.”

When it comes to 4G speeds, Singapore recorded the highest. Meanwhile, South Korea was ranked first in 4G availability. The global average 4G download speed was 16.2 Mbps. OpenSignal, for the report, assembled data from regular user smartphones under conditions of normal usage, covering 75 countries. OpenSignal’s report says 4G speeds in a country depend on a lot of factors including the spectrum assigned for 4G LTE, use of latest technologies like LTE-Advanced, traffic on networks. The report says countries with fastest LTE speeds are those that have “built LTE-Advanced networks and have a large proportion of LTE-Advanced capable devices.”

OpenSignal also says they saw a drop in global LTE speed average and indicates that as more users start using 4G in developing countries, the average speed will drop. On Costa Rica and India, OpenSignal notes, “as these countries ramp up their 4G services they’re bringing hundreds of millions of new LTE subscriptions online. That’s one of the reasons we saw a drop off in average global LTE speed.” According to OpenSignal, India still doesn’t have the capacity when it comes to speeds on LTE, and these are some of the most sluggish in the world.